DANCE FACULTY 2021-2022
JANIE CAROTHERS* - Dance Department Chair jcarothe@houstonisd.org
Teaches modern dance, composition, jazz, musical theatre, dance nutrition & survey, dance history, senior projects, senior lab, production and repertory
COURTNEY D JONES* - Dance Faculty – Full-time cjones46@houstonisd.org
Teaches modern dance, jazz, musical theatre, composition, modern dance partnering and repertory
DANCE CONSULTANTS
TALYA ARBISSER – Dance Photography
ADRIAN CIOBANU – Ballet, Men’s Ballet, Partnering, Folk Dance
BEN DELONY – Ballet, Jazz, Musical Theatre, Tap Dance, Body Health & Fitness, Repertory SEYBA DIOUF – West African Accompanist
SHANI DIOUF* – West African Dance, Dance of the Diaspora JEANNE DOORNBOS – Ballet, Pointe, Character, Ballet Repertory
JODEE ENGLE* - Ballet, Dance Composition, Improvisation, Modern Dance, Modern Dance Partnering, Repertory CARLA FLORES- KENISTON* - Ballet, Pointe, Modern Dance, Repertory
RODERICK GEORGE* – Guest Teacher - Contemporary Modern Dance, Repertory MARC GESSNER – Lighting Designer
LAURA GUTIERREZ* – Guest Teacher - Site-Specific Composition, Modern Dance, Pilates HARRISON GUY – Modern Dance (Horton), Repertory, Skin I’m In
DANIELLE HAMMACK* – Modern Dance (Graham), Repertory TERRENCE KARN – Ballet & Modern Dance Accompanist KIM KELLEY – Tap Dance
ILYA JANOS KOLOZS– Modern Dance Accompanist MICHAEL MERTZ – Ballet Accompanist
ROBBIE MOORE* – Contemporary Modern Dance, Repertory KRISTY NILSSON* – Ballet, Pointe
*HSPVA Dance Graduate
DANCE FACULTY BIOS
JANIE CAROTHERS – Dance Chair is a 1984 HSPVA Dance graduate and has a BFA in Musical Theatre from Webster University in St. Louis Missouri. She has performed with Princess Cruise Lines, Theatre Under the Stars, Webster Dance Theatre, Texas Dance Theatre, Davidson Dance Group, Chrysalis, WEAVE Dance Company and Hope Stone Dance Company. As a dancer, she has studied and worked with Matt Mattox, Luigi, Seán Curran, Susan Stroman, Pamela Hunt, Buddy Vest, Gary Hubler, Llory Wilson, Jane Weiner, Joffrey Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre. Mrs. Carothers spent several summers choreographing shows for the Galveston Outdoor Musicals including West Side Story, Show Boat, and A Chorus Line. She was chosen twice as one of the choreographers for Choreographer’s X6 at the Jewish Community Center’s Dance Month and has choreographed for Impact Dance Company, Academy Dancers and the Texas Tap Ensemble in Houston. Her choreographic works, In the Beginning, Hooped & Pressure were selected for the Regional & National High School Dance Festival in Miami and Norfolk. Mrs. Carothers has attended the Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts Summer Teacher Dance Workshop, the National Dance Educators Organization (NDEO) summer teacher workshop in New York, Oklahoma City University’s Summer Dance Educator Workshop and (DEL) Dance Education Laboratory at Jacob’s Pillow.
She also choreographs for the HSPVA All-School Musicals and was nominated for a 2017 Tommy Tune Award for Best Choreography for Urine Town… The Musical and has enjoyed collaborating with all the departments to pass on her love of musical theatre. She has had the privilege of performing with HSPVA in Scotland as a student and traveling with the HSPVA Concert Dancers to perform in China, Miami, Norfolk, Long Beach, Madison, Pittsburgh, Dallas, and Austin.
COURTNEY D. JONES – Dance Faculty is a proud graduate of HSPVA class of 1999 and a Presidential Scholar in the Arts for Choreography. In 2012 she was named one of Dance Magazine’s 25 to Watch. Professional credits include Broadway’s 1
stNational Tour of WICKED! Jennifer Muller/The Works, Hope Stone Dance, The Kevin Wynn Collection and the Freddick Bratcher and Company Contemporary Dance Theatre. In 2004 she received her BFA from SUNY Purchase with a minor in Psychology, graduating with honors. In 2008 she joined the cast of Show Boat accomplishing a long-standing goal to perform at Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall! Ms. Jones is proud of the professional relationship she has developed within the theatre community. Additional artistic credits include Failure:A Love Story, Auntie Mame, Panto Pinocchio, In the Next Room, Panto Rapunzel and Zombies and Panto Cinderella(Choreographer), We Are Proud….(Choreographer) with Stages Repertory Theatre; Urban Cowboy the Musical, A Chorus Line and South Pacific (Choreographer) with Theatre Under the Stars and Die Fledermaus, Show Boat, The Passenger (Movement Director) and Madame Butterfly (Movement Advisor) with Houston Grand Opera. Her work as Choreographer for Kinder HSPVA’s Black History Production of The Color Purple earned her a Tommy Tune Award for Choreography in 2020.
As an educator Ms. Jones is highly sought-after teaching consultant. She served as an Adjunct Faculty member at the
University of Houston for three years teaching modern dance technique, is a national guest and master class teacher at
numerous and notable universities and festivals including Bates Dance Festival, The Joffrey School (NYC), the University
of North Carolina School of the Arts Summer Intensive, Colorado Mesa University, Bowdoin College, the Sam Houston
State University Summer Dance Intensive, Dancers Give Back Dallas and Rice University. Ms. Jones is a freelance artist
under her own CDJ Dance Project. Her work has been commissioned by Counter Current Festival, the YES! Dance
Invitational, DanceNOW Festival, Barnstorm Dance Fest, The National and Regional High School Dance Festivals, Colorado
Mesa University, METdance Company, Urban Souls Dance Company, Arlington Heights High School and the Dance Gallery
Festival.
DANCE CONSULTANT BIOS 2020 - 2021
TALYA ARBISSER –Guest Teacher of
Dance Photography is an award-winning documentary photographer whose work has been shown in group and solo shows across the country. She began her career as a photojournalist specializing in sports photography. In her classes, students will be guided to develop their individual styles while learning the basic elements required to make great images.ADRIAN CIOBANU –
Mr. Ciobanu was born in Cluj, Romania where he graduated from the Liceul de Choregrafie, Octavian Stroia with honors, under the direction of his father, Florin Ciobanu. He then went on to work with the Romanian Opera Ballet for one year before moving to the Hungarian Opera Ballet. During his five years there, Mr. Ciobanu was promoted to Principal dancer. He toured extensively throughout Europe and in 1996, Mr. Ciobanu moved to Sarasota and became a member of the Sarasota Ballet dancing many major Principal roles and creating many roles as well. His repertoire includes many major classical ballets, and contemporary ballets by such choreographers as Robert North, Alberto Alonso, Katherine Posen, Stephen Mills, Todd Allen, Ament Istvan, and many others. Since 2002 Mr. Ciobanu has been teaching and coaching for the Sarasota Ballet School, Dance the Next Generation, and local and regional schools. In 2003, Mr. Ciobanu was promoted to Principal of the Sarasota Ballet Academy. In 2008, he was promoted to Ballet Master of Sarasota Ballet while still working extensively with the Academy. He worked with such stagers and choreographers as: Hans Van Manen, Monica Parker, Alexander Grant, Dominic Walsh, Sandra Jennings, Joyceanne Sidimus, Julian Moss, Andre Prokovsky, Gilles Maidon, Jackie Hollander, Donald Mahler, Margaret Barbieri, and others.BEN DELONY
- A Baton Rouge, LA native and graduate of the ballet department at Indiana University. During undergraduate years, he was mentored by Doricha Sales and Violette Verdy and performed in numerous ballets by George Balanchine, Twyla Tharp, Frederick Ashton, and Joshua Bergasse. He went on to dance with Ballet Memphis and Ballet Nouveau Colorado, and as a freelance dancer with credits including the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Arvada Center, Central City Opera, Boston Early Music Festival, and Holland America Lines. He developed a close connection with Houston Grand Opera and was a regular visiting dancer starting in 2013, concluding with dancing in their Year of Resistance season closer of West Side Story. Prior to retiring from the stage and moving to Houston, he was a dancer at the Metropolitan Opera, performing in over 15 repertory operas and new productions, and was on faculty at Ballet Academy East in Manhattan and New York University Steinhardt.SEYBA DIOUF
- is an international African folk singer and musician from Senegal, West Africa. He plays djembe, guitar, harmonica, talking drum, xalam (ngoni), sabar, West African bongo, and several other instruments. His beliefs are deeply rooted in Baay Fall culture. He believes that life is a learning experience and that he can even learn from his students. He was born and raised in a family of musicians and affectionately referred to as a "griot" ot "jali." His mother was his first musical influence, her beautiful voice while cooking taught him many of the first songs he learned. His first performance was at the age of 6 when he began performing in his village for cultural ceremonies, local schools, and TV stations. In 2013 he traveled to New, York and performed at The Apollo Theatre, Central Park, and Manhattan TV among other notable places. He received a special invitation by the UNFPA to perform one of his original songs (Fustila) at the Fustila Day Celebration in New York. In 2014 he created the band Yahtu, which means "Humble" in the Senegalese Wolof dialect. Yahtu went on to have great success being nominated "Best Original Band" in 2015 and performing at various festivals and music venues throughout Florida.SHANI DIOUF
- HSPVA Dance Graduatehas performed with contemporary and African dance companies such as The National Dance Company of Ghana, Saakumu Dance Troupe (Ghana), Urban Souls Dance Company, and Second-Generation Dance Company. She has had the pleasure of working with Jawole Zollar, Bernard Woma, Dr. Paschale Younge, Dr. Zelma Badu-Younge, Torgbui Midawo Gideon Foli Alorwovie and Sulley Imoro among others. Diouf holds an MFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from Florida State University and a BS in Dance (summa cum laude) from Lamar University. She is also a certified Kemetic Yoga instructor. For the past 14 years, she has been a Dance Professor at Houston Community College where she founded and organized The Akwaaba Dance and Drum Festival, a festival aimed at celebrating the beauty and diversity of African music and dance as well as dances of the diaspora. She is also a recent graduate in Religious Studies from Rice University where her thesis focused on the African American dancing body as a site for religious experience. Her current research interests are in exploring the influence of African Aesthetics on cultures of the diaspora. Specifically, how traditional African dance aesthetics have influenced African American spiritual dance and worship and where these two genres intersect in the dancing body.JEANNE DOORNBOS –
was born in Oklahoma and received her early dance training there from Charlotte Lyke and June Runyon. She attended the North Carolina School of the Arts, studying under Duncan Noble, Sonia Tyven and Robert Lindgren, and the University of Oklahoma, studying under Miguel Terekhov and Yvonne Chouteau. She joined the Houston Ballet in 1973 and danced with the company for 15 years, first in the corps de ballet, then as a soloist, and finally as a principal dancer before retiring in 1988. During her tenure with the Houston Ballet, Miss Doornbos performed soloist and principal roles in the major classics and in works by Antony Tudor, George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Glen Tetley, Helgi Tomasson, Choo San Goh, Ben Stevenson and others. Since retiring from performing, she has taught at the Houston Ballet Academy, the Fort Worth School of Ballet, the University of Houston, and Houston's Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.JODEE ENGLE –
is a Dance graduate of the High School for Performing and Visual Arts and received her early training from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Clear Lake, TX. After HSPVA, she attended the University of North Carolina School of the Arts where she received her B.F.A. in Contemporary Dance. While at NCSA, she had the pleasure of working with well-known choreographers such as Sara Hook, Mary Cochran, Murray Lewis, Bill Young, Lar Lubovich as well as performing the works of Jose Limon and Alwin Nikolais. JoDee was also a member of the Pluck Project, a student initiated, and student produced project in which the graduating class presents an evening-length concert of their own work in New York City. Now back in Houston, she has had the pleasure of dancing with the Sandra Organ Dance Company, Dominic Walsh Dance Theater, Hope Stone Dance Company, VAULT, Houston Grand Opera, Psophonia, Leslie Scates, Priscilla Nathan-Murphy, and the San Diego Opera, among others. JoDee teaches all around the Houston area is a founding member of the Houston Dance Collective.CARLA FLORES-KENISTON
- is originally from Austin, Texas, where she began her dance training with Austin Contemporary Ballet, Ballet Austin, and Tapestry Dance Company. She later attended the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA) in Houston as a dance major, with opportunities to perform nationally and in China. Her passion for teaching dance then led her to the University of Oklahoma (OU), where she graduated with a BFA degree in Ballet Pedagogy with special distinction and performed with the Oklahoma Festival Ballet touring nationally and to France. Ms. Flores-Keniston then pursued her career in New York City and completed an M.A. degree in Teaching Dance in the Professions with a concentration in American Ballet Theatre’s (ABT) Ballet Pedagogy in 2011 from New York University (NYU).From 2012-19, she worked as Program Administrator and Faculty for NYU Steinhardt’s Dance Education program, and as a fully certified, affiliate teacher in ABT’s National Training Curriculum, she also was a ballet instructor in the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School’s children’s division, a teaching artist for their educational outreach programs, and a teacher for the Young Dancer Summer Workshop and the Summer Arts Institute at Frank Sinatra High School for the Arts. Carla is excited for another year as faculty with Houston Ballet Academy, TopFlight Dance Center, and back home at HSPVA.
RODERICK GEORGE
– Guest Teacher - born in Houston, Texas, studied dance at Ben Stevenson’s Houston Ballet Academy. Roderick continued to develop his skill by exploring other techniques at The Alvin Ailey School, Miami City Ballet, LINES Professional Program and the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, TX. Before starting his professional career, he was a bronze winner of the Youth American Grand Prix in New York City in 2005 and was elected as a Presidential Scholar under the YoungArts Foundation in 2003, where he performed for the US President. Roderick joined Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet in 2005. Roderick decided to move abroad to work with Basel Ballet/ Theater Basel in 2007 and later to guest with the Goteborg Operan DansKompani. Roderick joined The Forsythe Company in Frankfurt, Germany. Where he learned and shared his greatest moments with William Forsythe and the artists of TFC. His career has embraced the collaborations of his work and other great choreographers such as Peeping Tom, Jorma Elo, Jerome Bel, Jacopo Godani, William Forsythe, Johan Inger, Jiří Kylian, Sharon Eyal, Ohan Naharin, Benoit Swan-Pouffer, Richard Wherlock, Tino Seghal and many others.MARC GESSNER –
has been working as a lighting designer in the Houston area for over twenty years. He has lit dance, theatre and music productions at the Jewish Community Center, HSPVA, Zilkha Theatre, The Wortham Center and various other spaces (some living and some but a memory). Prior to moving to Houston, Mr. Gessner worked in theaters in Dallas/Fort Worth, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, North Carolina, Washington D.C. and New York City. Mr. Gessner is also a writer, director and an actor. He graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BA in Communications from the University of Houston.LAURA GUTIERREZ –
Guest Teacher – is a performing artists and choreographer based between Houston and North Carolina. A graduate of the High School for the Performing and Visaul Arts, she received a BFA in Contemporary Dance from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, where she was awarded a William R. Kenan, Jr., Performing Arts Fellowship at Lincoln Center Education. Gutierrez has performed at the Biennale de la Danse de Lyon, BAM Next Wave Festival, Jacob’s Pillow, Dance Brisbane Festival and in museums such as The Menil Collection, Contemporary Arts Musem – Houston, The Fabric Workshop Museum, Diverse Works and The Guggenheim- Works in Progress. While her choreography has been at Lincoln Center’s Clark Studio Theatre, CPR-Center for Performance Research, Dixon Place, Judson Church, Triskelion Arts, Sicardi Gallery, MATCH Houston, and CounterCurrent Festival. She has performed works by Joan Jonas, Tino Sehgal and Jonah Bokaer Choreography, and in 2014 was named one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch.” In addition to performing she has taught Master Classes at University of Houston, Houston Community College, San Jacinto Community College, The MET Dance, UNCSA Summer Dance to name a few and has been a Dance Faculty member at PVA since 2011. Most recently her work “Center Aisle Blues” was named Most Creative Placemaking in Dance Magazines Best of 2018.HARRISON GUY
– Guest Teacher (Founder/Artistic Director) of Urban Souls Dance Company. Harrison has captivated audiences across the nation through his inspirational and unique works of passion, beauty, and activism that are rooted in African American history & culture. He began his dance journey in the small town of La Marque, TX, and building on his love for social dance and Hip-Hop he affirmed his purpose and calling by studying dance at Prairie View A&M University. He continued his studies at the Houston Metropolitan Dance Center, Sam Houston State University, Deeply Rooted Productions in Chicago, Dallas Black Dance Theater, and The Ailey School in New York. He was a founding member of both Exclamation Dance Company and Dorrel Martin's Dance Fusion in Houston. In 2004, he debuted his dance company Urban Souls Dance Company at the city-wide dance festival, Dance Houston. Harrison has gained a reputation for creating soul-stirring works that shift the consciousness of the audience and inspire response. He has facilitated a cultural exchange in Kigali, Rwanda, and was commissioned to create a work at Vanderbilt University in the Spring of 2015 to honor one of America’s most prominent composers, John Harbison. In 2016 he launched Houston's first African American Dance Festival and he has also founded Black Arts Movement Houston, a gathering space for local creatives. Harrison is the inaugural Artist in residence at Rice University through the CERCL Department where he is presenting a project for Black students and community called Black Bodies in White Spaces. He has won numerous awards which include Best Choreography for his work as Movement Director with Rec Room's presentation of The Royale. Mr. Guy has been teaching dance for 18 years. He has taught on the campuses of Codwell Elementary, Gregory-Lincoln Fine Arts Academy, Hamilton Middle School, and Waltrip High School. He is the Founder of the Charles Law Community Archive through the Black LGBTQ History &Heritage Project with the African American Library at The Gregory School. Harrison is the Director of Arts and Culture for the 5th Ward Community Redevelopment Corporation.
DANI STINGER HAMMACK
- Dani is a graduate of The High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, TX where she was one of two recipients of the Mary Martha Lappe Scholarship Award to pursue a career in the arts. She holds a B.F.A. in Dance Performance and B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Southern Methodist University where she has performed works by Paul Taylor, Robert Battle, Alvin Ailey, and Martha Graham. Upon graduating, she was hired as a performer for the international industrial with the Mary Kay Convention in Dallas, Texas. She has been on faculty in NYC and Houston for Project Dance, an internationally touring open-air dance concert. Dani was a member of The Martha Graham Dance Company where she performed works such as Serenata Morisca, Chronicle, Rite of Spring, and Diversion of Angels. She has also worked with Deborah Zall in the Deborah Zall Project, performing her work entitled Shadow of Her Sister. Dani was the Associate Artistic Director of Ad Deum Dance Company from 2015-2017, performing at various venues around the country, most notably the C.S. Lewis Conference in Cambridge. She has been a guest artist with NobleMotion Dance performing in their seasons Vortex and Man Overboard! at the Hobby Center in Houston. Dani is currently a company director at Dance Du Coeur in Sugar Land, TX and is on the modern dance faculty at HSPVA where she teaches the Martha Graham Technique.TERRENCE KARN
– is a dance and musical artist/composer/educator. Terrence seeks to share the gift of music and dance through educational outreach and performance. He began his career as a dance musician in the 1970’s at the Minnesota Dance Theatre. He performed and studied with The Andahazy Ballet, The Children’s Theatre School and The Guthrie Theatre. During the 1980’s, Terrence taught character dance at Houston Ballet Academy and was a dance accompanist. He is a Dance musician in the School of Theatre and Dance at the University of Houston, Kinder HSPVA, HopeStone and The Houston Ballet Academy. While living in Hawaii he worked at The Aloha Theatre, The Kealakekua Theatre, The Performing Arts and Cultural Exchange Studios and Konawaena High School. He was the resident musician for Denison University’s Department of Dance and The University of Wisconsin Eau Claire. Terrence has performed with the Houston Grand Opera, Karen Stokes Dance, Core Performance Company, Moodafaruka and The Renaissance Festival. He is the co-founder and performer with Gypsy Dance Theatre, a Texas based world music and dance ensemble. Currently, his home base is Lewiston, Maine where he accompanies dance and teaches Rhythm Skills at Bates College and Bowdoin College.Karn will return to the Bates Dance Festival for his 21st year as Musical Director for the Youth Arts Program. He has recorded six all original music CD’s and has composed numerous works for dance companies on planet earth and has played over 20,727 dance classes and counting.
